


No Darker Than Our Thoughts

by still_lycoris



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Creepy, Exploration, Family, Gen, Irony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:41:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28388730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/still_lycoris/pseuds/still_lycoris
Summary: Josh, Beth and Hannah explore some of the mountain.
Relationships: Beth Washington & Hannah Washington & Josh Washington
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15
Collections: 12 Days of Christmas Challenge 2020





	No Darker Than Our Thoughts

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 12dayschristmas challenge.

Most of the time, Josh thought the mountain was one of the coolest places that he’d ever been to.

“It’s all ours,” Dad said, sounding proud when he showed them the first pictures. “Every bit of it. I’m going to make a film here but once that’s done, we’ll have holidays here and when you’re all a bit older, you can bring friends up here, if you’re responsible.”

Josh thought that was directed at him, rather than the twins. They were pretty responsible, even though they were younger than him. He tried to be responsible but sometimes, it didn’t take. And up here, it was going to be hard. There was so much to see and so many cool things to do. He already knew that Chris would love this place. He’d have to try and be good so Chris could come and they could do all the cool things they'd want to do, like build snow forts and igloos and in the summer, maybe they’d go camping and sneak into the abandoned Sanatorium which Dad had told them they couldn’t go into because it didn’t really belong to them.

Yeah, it was one of the coolest places ever. But sometimes, Josh couldn’t help thinking it was just a little creepy too. They were there all by themselves and there was all this _space_ and sometimes, the space got in his head and it was weird. Sometimes, he thought he heard things in the night too when he couldn’t sleep. He knew they were only animals – there were wolves and bear and deer around the place – but sometimes, at night, he got funny ideas that there might be other things. Things that were watching, waiting, scratching in the darkness.

He didn’t tell anybody about that. They’d only worry and Josh was tired of being the worrying one. 

They weren’t really allowed to wander too far from the lodge. Dad and Mom both said that the mountain was a little wild and that as they liked it that way, the kids had to be careful. But one day, when Mom and Dad were both busy, the three of them took a walk together and veered off the path, just a little. Which was how they found the entrance to the mine.

“Dad said we’re not allowed in,” Hannah said. “He said the mine was closed because it was dangerous and if we found it, we should stay out.”

“Yeah, I know,” Josh said, peering into the dark entrance. You couldn’t really see very much. It was just wooden props that fell away into darkness after a bit. It smelt kind of weird though – sour, somehow. Maybe animals used it for shelter. Maybe something had died in there.

“I’d be cool to have a little look though,” Beth said. “Do you think there are bats inside?”

“Probably. But they’d all be asleep because of the snow. And they probably have rabies,” Josh said, just to see if he could make Hannah squeak. She _did_ squeak, then threw a snowball at him. Josh threw one back and grinned at her.

“You sure you don’t want to go in? We could just go in a little way. You know, see if there’s anything creepy in there? A monster or two ... ”

“You watch too many of Dad’s films,” Beth said, rolling her eyes. “You’d just go in and get stuck and then have to eat your own leg to stay alive while we tried to rescue you.”

“Only if one of you wasn’t in there with me. Don’t worry sisters, I’m a good brother, I’d let you guys eat me first!”

“You are so gross sometimes,” Beth said. “Come on. Let’s go back. There’s no point looking at a door we can’t go through and I want to see if we can make an even bigger snowman than last time.”

“Yeah,” Hannah said. “Come on, Josh.”

As Josh turned away from the entrance, he half-thought he saw movement inside it. Just a flicker, as though something really fast had just shot back further into the darkness. When he looked back, there was nothing there. Of course there was nothing there. It was just an empty mineshaft.

Like Beth said, he watched too many of Dad’s films.


End file.
